A Chinese state-owned company is cancelling plans to manufacture Inyathi minibuses in South Africa after facing hostility from the taxi industry, Business Day reported on Wednesday.
Resistance from the industry on Monday forced Beijing Automotive Works SA to cancel plans to assemble minibuses locally, the company's head of sales and marketing, John Jessup, was quoted as saying.
The taxi industry cited quality concerns and threatened to stop buying the Inyathi. SA National Taxi Council chief executive Nkuleleko Buthelezi said they told their members not to buy the vehicles.
“We told our members not to buy that taxi until we have guaranteed the quality of the product,” he told the paper.
On November 13, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel opened the first phase of the taxi-manufacturing company's plant in Springs in Ekurhuleni.
Patel said the factory would “re-industrialise South Africa”, Business Day reported. - Sapa